Budgies

shortys94

Hey,

I left my budiges on their own for a few days, I know you're not supposed to, and when I got back they seemed fine, just a bit scruffy and the food and water a bit messy as expected. But when I was cleaning out the cage I noticed that one of my budgies had a cut on the top of it's head, as there was a few drops of blood on the sandpaper.

The budgie seems to be fine, chirping away with the other one, but I am not sure how it happened. They do peck at each other a bit sometimes but I never would of thought so much to cause the other to bleed. I'm not sure whether something fell on his head in thr cage or if th other budgie pecked him.

Any advice, again I know I shouldn't have left them on their own. I don't know whether they need the vet or not, and it wouldn't be open until Tuesday anyway.

Thanks.

LegacyUser

This probably would have happened regardless of you being away.
Your budgie might just be molting.

We always had a couple of the critters in our house as we grew up and its not uncommon to find a missing feather and a bit of blood in the cage.

FYI - in future I'd drop them off at a friends or parents to look after if yo are away for more than a couple of days.

Futurism

Happened to my bird before - he was just molting,should be ok.Just check him over the next few days.

shortys94

Cool, its just that I thought it was unusual for the cut to be on top of his head.

tallus

His partner might have plucked a feather out. Do they preen each other ?
All feathers need blood to grow, and sometimes they do break or get nipped by a beak there will be a bit of a bleed, no biggie tbh as long as he/she is eating and drinking water I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

Demonique

One day the budgies were running low on food (one or possibly both had scattered a lot of it outside the cage). The hen was standing guard over the food container and had given the male a bald patch on the top of his head

shortys94

They preen each other yea, the wound seems so have healed up nicely so far.

Thanks for the advice, also about their nails, does it matter if they're long, Ive never got them cut. Blood vessels run in them right?

LegacyUser

You can clip them - but why??? You should be putting a sand perch in there 1 or two days a week to prevent long claws.

You shouldn't need to cut them at all if you were providing the fright facilities for your budgie.

You are correct, there is a vein running through the claws. With lack of experience you could cause some real harm. For one, you will have to restrain the bird to do it. If you reastrain in the wrong way the bird could be dead in minutes ...


BTW - I presume you have a cuttle fish in the cage for him to keep his beak shaped with?I'd consider getting yourself a book on Amazon about budgies. No offence, the kind of questions you are asking are those you would have got answers to BEFORE you got the bird, if you did your research. You should never take on an animal without reading up on what they need.
I don't mean any offence by that comment.

GA361

Just as long as you leave them in the cage and dont bring them outside they'll be fine.

My sister brought her budgie outside once.As she was carrying it the bottom of the cage fell out and he flew away.:D:D

shortys94

bubby wrote: »

You can clip them - but why??? You should be putting a sand perch in there 1 or two days a week to prevent long claws.

You shouldn't need to cut them at all if you were providing the fright facilities for your budgie.

You are correct, there is a vein running through the claws. With lack of experience you could cause some real harm. For one, you will have to restrain the bird to do it. If you reastrain in the wrong way the bird could be dead in minutes ...


BTW - I presume you have a cuttle fish in the cage for him to keep his beak shaped with?I'd consider getting yourself a book on Amazon about budgies. No offence, the kind of questions you are asking are those you would have got answers to BEFORE you got the bird, if you did your research. You should never take on an animal without reading up on what they need.
I don't mean any offence by that comment.

Don't worry I've got cuttlefish in the cage, and I've read books.

I don't like using the sand perches, I just thought I'd ask. I look after my birds well, I don't know why asking a few questions like this is not a good sign, I know people who didn't look after their birds properly at all and had all the necessities auch as cuttlefish and sand perches. Surely making the effort to ask about something to keep them healthy is a good sign.


No offence meant, I do look afer them.

Sigma Force

Just keep a close eye on that hen, if the other bird looks like he's being bullied or blood is drawn suspiciously again you may have to seperate them. Hens can be very vicious, speaking from experience recently when our hens love(had her 8 years) she is a right wagon but wouldn't part with her.
Just keep a close eye.

Re sand perches they are best avoided as is sand paper they do trim nails but are very harsh on feet. Better off using large perches the bird should be able to fit the entire foot around it without touching the other side of their foot if u know what I mean. Perches need to be varied in size to avoid foot cramps.

What size cage do you have at the moment, I find with budgies esp hens that they get used to the size of their cage and become bored and you need to constantly upgrade to a larger one with more things to do in it although obviously there is a limit on how big you can make it.

Shreddable birds toys are fun for them hens love to wreck stuff was just on a site think its called busy beaks.

You can also get a cage usually called breeding cages where they have a section in the middle you can seperate the birds if they do start to fight.

Do note for any bird owners birds when injured or ill cannot wait for vet treatment when a bird is ill its an emergency always treat it that way as birds go downhill very fast. Many vets have an emergency clinic if not switch to a avian vet that does. Also visit the website northern parrots its brilliant for minor things like dry skin, and they have an bird first aid kit too.

Easy and all as budgies are to care for do have someone look in on them at least once a day if going away anything can happen while you are gone hens can do a lot of damage in a short space of time.

shortys94

Yea I have different sized perches for them, again I don't like using the sand perches but I do use sandpaper.

I was actually thinking of getting a smaller cage with more things for them to do, I think the one I have now is far too big. Those shreddable toys sound good.

Sigma Force

A cage can never be too big also put in two or so toys and switch the toys around every week cages can become to crowded with toys. I use newspaper for all my birds, it's cheap..well free.. and gentle on their feet. I used to use sand paper but found it a waste of money, as an alternative you can pop in bird sand with newspaper underneath.

zooplus.ie have some cool budgie toys including a budgie gym your hen would love. loads of perches and things to do and chew on it not too expensive either.

The birds should be able to fly in the cage without their wings touching off toys and the cage bars so the bigger the better.

LegacyUser

shortys94 wrote: »

No offence meant, I do look afer them.

Your right, I'm sorry. Reading back it was a bit ott.

LegacyUser

Guineapigrescue, how long did your delivery from zooplus take?
Just curious - am waiting a few weeks on a package from them.

Sigma Force

In general about a week to 10 days the items come from Germany so it can take a while if its been longer than that they might be waiting for something to come back in stock Id contact them though they are usually good with delivery although sometimes it looks like items were just thrown into the box.